Protestors gather at Ohi nuclear plant

Protestors are gathering at the Ohi nuclear power plant in central Japan ahead of the restart of one of its reactors on Sunday evening.

Members of groups opposing the first restart of idled reactors in the country began assembling near the plant’s gate from Saturday evening.

They are blocking a road leading to the plant, some using vehicles.

Some protestors are holding banners that call for no reactivation. Others shouted slogans and beat drums.

Kansai Electric Power Company says the presence of protestors is making it difficult for workers to enter the site, but that the plant’s operations have not been affected.

Jul. 1, 2012 – Updated 06:00 UTC (15:00 JST)

= ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ =

Can’t understand this… Well, yeah, I guess I can. They have the (unnecessary) rolling blackouts to scare the people into cutting back even more on their use of electricity (while pachinko parlours operate day and night and thousands of vending machines do likewise). Then, when electric companies start to lose revenue, they’ll have rate hikes. Makes perfect sense IF you’re an electric company. Just not a very nice thing to do to your customers.

Oh, by the way, it was a cool 23 degrees (celsius, 73 farenheit) here in Nagoya today.

Japan Firms Preparing for Possible Rolling Blackouts

Tokyo, July 1 (Jiji Press)–Companies in areas where rolling blackouts may possibly be conducted this summer, including the Kansai western Japan region, are fully starting to take measures to reduce power consumption.
On weekdays during a period from Monday, power users in the Kansai region served by Kansai Electric Power Co. <9503> will be asked to cut peak electricity consumption by 15 pct from the level in the summer 2010, when Japan was hit by record-breaking heat. The 15 pct target is seen to remain in place until the idled No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the utility’s Oi nuclear power plant are fully brought back online.
The voluntary power-saving target is the largest among all regions where such goals have been set. Users in the service area of Kyushu Electric Power Co. <9508> will be requested to save electricity by 10 pct this summer, while the target figure is 7 pct for users in the areas served by Hokkaido Electric Power Co. <9509> and Shikoku Electric Power Co. <9507>.
All the four power companies are reported to be preparing to launch rolling blackouts in case their power supplies become very tight in the summer.
To cope with the situation, major Japanese companies are increasingly introducing light-emitting diode lights in place of fluorescent lamps.

(2012/07/01-11:00)

= ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ = ~ =

Reactor to be rebooted, 1st after checkups since Fukushima accident

FUKUI, Japan, July 1, Kyodo

A reactor at the Oi nuclear power plant in western Japan will become late Sunday the first in the country to be reactivated after regular checkups since last year’s Fukushima nuclear crisis, bringing an end to the situation since early May in which Japan has had no operating reactors and easing power constraints.

Kansai Electric Power Co. said it plans to pull out control rods that have contained fission reactions from 9 p.m. at the No. 3 reactor of the plant in Fukui Prefecture on the Sea of Japan coast. It aims to attain a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction, known as criticality, early Monday, begin power transmission Wednesday, and bring it to full operation possibly July 8.

Although a growing group of protestors has blocked a road leading to the plant since Saturday, preventing workers’ access, the utility serving western Japan expects there will be no impact on Sunday’s work as it has already secured enough workers for the job, officials said.

Clustrmaps

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Japan Wind Map

Click on image for up-to-date map:

Advertisements

1 comment

Anonymous said: July 1, 20124:35 pm

Regarding the blackout news, I am sure you have all seen the intention to open earlier at the AEON shopping malls !
They want to open from 7am for those people working at companies hoping to close earlier during the summer period. Not sure of the logic here, but this means using MORE electricity over a LONGER period in the LARGEST buildings in Japan…..a true travesty!